11.15.2018

ARC Review: The Bastard by Lisa Renee Jones

ERIC MITCHELL'S STORY
I'm the bastard child, son to the mistress, my father's backup heir to the Mitchell empire. He sent me to Harvard. I left and became a Navy SEAL, but I'm back now, and I finished school on my own dime. I'm now the right hand man to Grayson Bennett, the billionaire who runs the Bennett Empire. I'm now a few months from being a billionaire myself. I don't need my father's company or his love. My "brother" can have it. I will never go back there. I will never be the mistake my father made, the way he was the mistake my mother made.

And then she walks in the door, the princess I'd once wanted more than I'd wanted my father's love. She wants me to come back. She says my father needs to be saved. I don't want to save my father but I do want her. Deeply. Passionately. More than I want anything else.

But she's The Princess and I'm The Bastard. We don't fit. We don't belong together and yet she says he needs me, that she needs me. We're like sugar and spice, we don't mix, but I really crave a taste. Just one. What harm can just one taste do?

Don't miss the full FILTHY DUET:
THE BASTARD
THE PRINCESS

★★★★☆

The Bastard was full of tension, questionable loyalties, and chock full of secrets. It's a story about a son who has never been recognized and who can never go home... until he does. With one heck of a cliffhanger, I can't wait to see what LRJ brings us in the conclusion to this Filthy Duet in The Princess.

The Bastard - Eric surpassed his so-called shortcomings and became a man that defied expectations. Born the bastard child of a powerful man, he was never quite accepted into the family. The also-ran rather than the heir apparent. Rather than competing against his own blood, he struck out on his own, found a new family, and became a self-made billionaire, more powerful and successful than those who looked down their noses at him. He was a force to be reckoned with. A fierce storm unto himself. And when those who once ousted him need help, he may be their only salvation.

The Princess - Harper lost her father and went along with her mother when she remarried. She had suddenly become Eric's step-sister and part of a family she had no clue how to navigate. She and Eric shared one heck of a connection at first sight and after a passionate night together, he leaves her with a warning - to basically get out while she can because the family is a pack of vipers. She didn't really take his warning to heart and spent the next six years learning the hard way. Now that she needs help, the only person she feels like she can turn to is the same man who walked away from her without a backward glance.

This story was almost overwhelming in its passion. It felt at times as if I was stuck in the erotic embrace of the couple while learning virtually nothing about the situation at hand. There's something going on at Eric's dad's company... something that is potentially dangerous... something that has jeopardized lives... and yet I'm no closer to figuring out what that something is at the end of this book. I hope it all becomes clear in the next one.

There's no doubt that Eric and Harper share a once-in-a-lifetime connection. Their connection never broke during their six year separation. I'm not sure what the future holds for this couple but knowing LRJ, their happy ending is somewhere on the horizon and I'm eager to watch it unfold.